The Mystery of Judical License Plates

On another front, my favorite Commission this side of the Commission on Superhuman Activities, i.e. Judicial Conduct, finally answered the burning question of whether displaying judicial license plates violates the New York Rules Governing Judicial Conduct. After 9 months of study, in a spiffy color 65 page report, the answer is, “No.” That’s quite a relief to me, but it begs the question, “Don’t these people have anything better to do?” Obviously not, as the report contained a concurring opinion and a wonderful, silly 11 page dissenting statement by Richard D. Emery. Remember him? He’s the guy who dissented and voted to remove from office one of our Albany County Family Court Judges when the Commission felt that a mere censure was in order. He was appointed for a second term in 2012 by then Senate Minority Leader John Sampson. Yes, that John Sampson, as in United States v. Sampson. In any event, Member Emery adjectivized H.T. Webster’s poor Caspar Milquetoast into calling this a “milquetoast Report” that ducks the issue. To his view, such license plates are completely improper, allowing judges, family and friends “to flaunt their judicial status wherever they go.” Say what? He calls the decision a “schizophrenic message inevitably lead[ing] to bizarre scenarios involving special treatment being afforded and accepted by judges.” He lost me on that one, but as I have written the Commission is no stranger to bizarre scenarios in the past, albeit self-imposed. And besides, I thought judges were entitled to special treatment, like respect and honor for serving the public and our system. Silly me. As for the Commission, if this is the nature of their mission on Earth, I believe it might better reflect on whether wearing black robes is improper as it is an aristocratic vestige of killing ermines in 17th Century England so that due deference could be the made to the death of Queen Mary II in 1694. I wonder what PETA thinks of that?